Pokhara isn’t exactly known for being an exciting metropolis. It’s more like a village that grew a little too much, with a nice view and too much traffic for the narrow streets.

Our Saturday nights consist of pizza & Settlers, and the highlight of the month is when my friend Kati plays guitar in Olive Cafe.

That’s why you need to take advantage of every opportunity for an event – even if that means looking at Mt Everest expedition gear in the museum.

When Jacob told me on Friday about the football game that weekend I didn’t have to think long of where we would spend our Saturday off. What team, and why, and when and how much – it did not matter! We had to be there!

So on Saturday we got on the motor bike (after church! cause Saturday = church day) and drove down to the ‘stadium’.
After the turn at Prithivi Chowk, the busiest intersection in town, we realized something was going on – a big crowd of people was moving in the same direction as we were. Were all of these people gonna watch that game?

At the entrance there were different guys telling us to go in different directions. But with 2 tickets in the pocket we just followed the crowds, which led us to an improvised parking area.

By then we had figured out this game was Nepali Army vs. Bangladesh, and that this was the final of the Pokhara Safal Cup.

We found a spot amidst a couple of thousand (!) Nepalis, and enjoyed a game that was sometimes nice, and sometimes boring. There was water and peanuts and sun and mountains and the army supporters had a nice party of their own.

It turned out that throwing water bottles at the Bangladeshi players was completely acceptable (but probably not according to the poor guy they were aiming for) and also that we wouldn’t have had to buy tickets if only we had made friends with the neighbours.
Other than that, it wasn’t entirely clear who was cheering for what team, because for everything – change, missed chance, goal – was cheered just the same.
And Bangladesh had brought some African players with legs twice the size of the Nepalis.

It ended up in 1-0 for Bangladesh.

The grand exodus was a nice example of Nepali Efficiency.

Dozens of motor bikes and scooters, a couple of hundred pedestrians, and an exit shaped like a funnel. The rule is: if there’s space, it’s yours.

At least I passed my hill start test (vital part of driving test in the Neds…) and I made sure my lungs got a little more black by all the fumes I breathed in.